


Hope

by punky_96



Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:40:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punky_96/pseuds/punky_96
Summary: Re-post from LJ.  XV let me know I didn't copy everything over in the great migration so here I am tracking things down and putting them back in the drawers.Summary:  Angsty look at what it might mean for Serena is Emily had fallen into a coma as well as what Andrea reflects upon her own hidden relationship with Miranda.
Relationships: Emily Charlton/Serena
Kudos: 19





	Hope

Hope.Emily/Serena, Miranda/Andrea.PG.Angsty look at what it might mean for Serena is Emily had fallen into a coma as well as what Andrea reflects upon her own hidden relationship with Miranda.2361.

**Title:** Hope

**Characters** :Emily/Serena

**Prompt** :link to prompt:http://dvlwears-prada.livejournal.com/2215183.html?thread=17073679#t17073679

**Prompt:** What if Emily’s accident had been much worse? From jbthedelirious.

**Word Count** :2361

**Rating:** PG

**Summary:** Angsty look at what it might mean for Serena if Emily had fallen into a coma as well as what Andrea reflects upon her own hidden relationship with Miranda.There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but I did say Angst.

**Disclaimer** :standard disclaimer on my fic community and my LJ page

**A/N** :I snagged a few early prompts and it looks like they have all been picked up or considered to be picked up.I don’t think there are very many who stray very far from the OTP of Mirandy, so I figured I could dive into this one while I was waiting for the laundry.It’s going to be angsty and probably a short one-shot…we’ll see.

**A/N 2:** Change the timeline so that M/S divorce already happened and then the outburst with M/A like Paris already happened, but Andrea is still the 2nd assistant to Emily, who as we know was hit by a car, and then put the timeline to be heading out to Paris soon…

**A/N 3:** Yeah, by now you know that I’m not a doctor.

**_Hope_ **

The machines chirped on their own rhythm while the bustle of the hospital continued just outside the door.A team rushed down the hallway pushing a heavy metal cart on wheels.Andrea stood there awkwardly ready to go or fully enter the room, however she was caught there in a weird parallel stasis to the red-headed woman under the raspy cotton sheet of the hospital bed and stripped of whatever couture she had started the day in.Her make up had been smeared, yet the pattern was recognizable.They had been on the phone—the redhead frustrated by their silver headed boss’ ever higher expectations.The taller brunette clenched her hands into fists at her sides still torn by the news she had intended to tell her co-worker and fleeing the room she had come to visit her in.The message would not be received, just as the scarves that scattered in the wind when the First Assistant was hit by the yellow taxicab.

Heels clattered uncertainly in the hallway and then Andrea was forcibly propelled into the hospital room as a body collided with hers.“Oooof.”Andrea stepped forward catching her balance on the end of the bed, jostling it.Shaking her head and straightening herself up, Andrea looked at the still unresponsive patient.Turning around, Andrea’s jaw dropped when she saw the wild blue eyes and wind blown blonde hair of the model-beautiful make up artist, Serena.“Uh…”Andrea stretched the syllable out to buy time as she contemplated her own reasons for being in Emily’s hospital room and queried the blonde’s.“Serena?”Wiping her hands on her hips, Andrea tried for the illusion of comfort as she recognized how out of control Serena appeared from her eyes to her posture.

“What are you doing here?”The Brazilian snapped at the brunette as she stepped further into the room in order to see the prone form of the frail looking British woman.

The tone seemed equally split between jealousy and accusation, though Andrea wasn’t sure just where the overlap between the two emotions left her.Instinctively Andrea stepped back and away from her sudden adversary.Unfortunately this put her opposite the blonde with the red head on the bed in between them.Looking from angry blue eyes to unmoving eyelids and back, Andrea swallowed her guilt and her uncertainty as she replied.“I was on the phone with her when…”

Serena narrowed her eyes on the brunette and rounded the bed with sudden motions that Andrea didn’t anticipate.“And last night?!”Her voice was low and cold, it reminded Andrea of Miranda’s eviscerations.Although the silver haired woman never grabbed her arms and shook her.

Gulping, Andrea had a new dilemma.Momentarily she lost herself in the sensation of Serena’s hands on her arms, constricting the blood flow and wobbling her thin grip on reality.It was a good reason to be speechless, but not one the crazed blonde would likely accept.‘Rock meet hard place,’ Andrea thought as she reached up to place her hands on Serena’s shoulders.Forcing herself to make eye contact and wait for Serena to focus on her, Andrea ground out, “Not with her.”Whatever was going on here, was not about her and Andrea knew it.

The machines continued their beeping, the world continued outside the hospital room with the swish of rubber soles on the hospital linoleum.Blue eyes bore into brown, until the pupils seemed to dilate and then Serena let out a sigh of acceptance that turned into a full on onslaught of tears falling in tracks down her face and off her chin.Andrea gripped Serena’s shoulders to keep her upright, until it was no longer enough and she simply pulled the wailing woman into her arms and against her body.She spread her fingers wide across the back of the weeping woman in order to provide the most body heat and comforting that she could.Andrea did not dare to speak, though in her mind she questioned the powers that be regarding the torture they seemed to put humanity through.Thinking of the first time she had held onto Miranda in the throes of despair, Andrea hoped that there was always someone there when needed.Holding back her own sympathetic tears, Andrea swallowed the emotions of the past and this confusing present.“You’ve got to sit down now.”Andrea firmly but quietly told the distraught woman.

Breathing in as if to return the devastation back into the confines of her heart, Serena wiped at her eyes with the back of her hands and then her long fingers.She blinked her eyes several times as she took in the familiar shape of her lover on the bed and their co-worker turning to grab a tissue to offer comfort.Her breathing was ragged as she sucked in air and fought the reflexes within her throat and tear ducts.

“Here.”Andrea pressed a handful of rough tissue into her hand and then slipped by her.Startling, Serena thought that she was leaving and halfway lifted out of the plastic green chair.When the woman only slipped into the small bathroom, Serena settled into the plastic with a creak.

Holding out a wet paper towel, Andrea again said, “Here.”

Half-heartedly Serena wiped at her face.“What—” she inhaled to steady her words, “What did they say?”She indicated the prone patient in the bed.

“Light coma because she hit her head.”Andrea half waved at Emily’s leg which had been put in a cast already.“And a broken leg.”This set off Serena’s sobs and choking breaths once again.“It’s a light coma, they said.”Andrea kneeled down with her hand on Serena’s knee to offer comfort as much as for balance.“Her eyes open if you shout at her.”Staring up at Serena, Andrea tried to convey how important that was.“She can talk, but doesn’t make a lot of sense yet.”Andrea shrugged trying to minimize this difficulty.“And when they poke her she shrieks and moves away.”Nodding, Andrea tried to emphasize that this was a good sign to go with the other good sign.

For many moments the machines were the only accompaniment to their breathing.Andrea wondered if she was just destined to always be torn between one thing and another as she considered the floor and standing. 

“She’s so still.”Serena whispered.Making a decision Andrea stood and encouraged Serena to move the chair closer as she dragged her hand into Emily’s.For a brief moment Andrea’s hand was on top of Serena’s on top of Emily’s and she thought of sports teams giving cheers.Teams were there to support each other, not normally like this, but Runway was a biting kicking sibling rivalry of a team, so it made the same kind of sense that it made for the Queen of Fashion to crumble in the arms of the ugliest duckling in the history of Runway.Selfishly Andrea hoped that she never had to comfort Miranda in the hospital like this, then her breath caught in her throat as she realized the connection between Serena and Emily and realized that if Miranda was crumbling under the fluorescent lights of a hospital weeping over the still form of a woman that it would be her, or worse, one of the girls.Andrea squeezed the hands under hers hoping to share strength.“We had a fight last night.”The tears tracked down Serena’s face into the designer fabric on her chest.The ineffective tissue was slowly being crushed to bits in the blonde’s other hand.“She didn’t come home.”Her voice cracked and Andrea rested her other hand flat on Serena’s back, letting it slowly circle over and over like the beeping of the machines.

“She still has her apartment.”Andrea said slowly, hoping that her supposition would hold.They weren’t exactly friends, but occasionally work and personal responsibilities conflicted to the point that Andrea would have to pick something up from Emily’s place or vice versa.It was why Andrea still had her own place after nearly nine months of dating Miranda and the divorce finalizing three months ago.They weren’t ready—too many details to sort out—it was overwhelming.Andrea looked at the bed, tears welling in her eyes as she wondered what it would be like for her if that was Miranda laying there. 

Serena shook her head as she hit her free fist against the railing of Emily’s bed.“She wasn’t ready.”Leaning back her hand nearly slipped from between Emily and Andrea’s as she turned against herself.“I’m so jealous.She hated it.”Sniffing Serena wiped at her face with the shredded tissue and then bit her finger as she pressed her fist against her mouth.“She wanted to go to Paris and I accused her of loving Miranda more than me.”

“You can be jealous of the city, maybe of the clothes, but not Miranda, not me.”Andrea looked into Serena’s eyes hoping that in this moment the blonde would be able to absorb the knowledge and retain the meaning.Squeezing their hands once more, Andrea slipped hers away and then edged around Serena.“I’ll get some coffee and come back.Did you eat today?”When the blond shook her head, Andrea nodded and then made her way out of the room.A quick text, two coffees, and a pastry later, the brunette headed silently into the room.It was going to be a long night.

*** *** ***

The nurse may have come in on silent shoes, but she flung open the curtains with a vehemence that startled Serena and Andrea into consciousness.While they were still reconfiguring reality and taking stock of their bodies’ various ailments from stiff neck to abused hip, the nurse checked the machines, the IV drip, the chart, and then leaned over and said loudly, “You got some visitors, Emily Charlton.”

Serena stood ready to pounce on the nurse who was unfortunately on the far side of the bed.Behind her Andrea rose questioning the woman’s sanity if not her qualifications.However both of their attentions were diverted by Emily’s outburst.“Another Miranda problem.”The red head half sat up, her gown hanging dangerously off of one shoulder, as she looked around unseeing.“I went to Hermes.”She turned to the nurse, looking her up and down with a sniff of disgust.Andrea watched with an amused smile as she dismissed her with her slowly focusing eyes and looked around.She wondered what would happen if Emily saw the woman’s quite functional shoes.“Irving’s at it again.”Looking past the nurse now, Emily narrowed her eyes to scold her co-worker.“Where have you been?I have to pee.”When she started to get up the nurse and Serena jumped into action.When their blue eyes met each other, Emily fell back against the bed weakly.“You’re so mad at me.”Her eyes slipped shut and she whimpered.Serena stroked the hair from her face and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

The nurse quickly told them, “It’s good she was so responsive.Seemed to recognize you.”Her round face nodded curtly on the top of her short neck.“Still talking nonsense though.I’ll tell the doctor.”The nurse shuffled out of the room then leaving them alone with a slowly recovering Emily, an optimistic Serena and a hopeful Andrea.

“Made sense to me.”Andrea shrugged and dared to smile at the sleepy blond across the hospital bed.

Serena sat back down on the plastic torture device at Emily’s side and laughed.“A little more Alice in Wonderland than usual, but yeah, made perfect sense to me.”

Pointing at the small bathroom, Andrea indicated her plan.“I’ll freshen up and then get some breakfast for us, okay?”She made quick work of washing her face and finger brushing her hair before she went out to see what there was to see at this hour in the hospital.A text from Miranda made her smile and she hoped that Emily would start to make sense to people outside of Runway so that she could head home—there were some things that needed to be tended to.

Waylaid by a call from Nigel about the Paris preparations and where the team was, the coffee and pastries were cold by the time Andrea returned to the room.It didn’t matter though, because upon entering she saw Emily holding Serena in a tight embrace that awkwardly had her bending over the bed.Some one must have started making sense, either that or Serena was trying mouth-to-mouth to see if that helped.Coughing, Andrea made as if she had just entered the room instead of having been quietly observing them.

Emily pushed Serena away, but the blond smiled and pulled both of her hands into her own as she quietly stated, “It’s okay.This is the right time.”The eye contact smoldering between them made Andrea’s heart swoon and she was glad that their suffering was poignant but short-lived.

“Andrea.”Emily whispered her co-workers name without the usual snip she had, but without sounding weak either.

Smiling, Andrea stepped closer.“The nurse didn’t understand a word you said, but we did.”

Rolling her eyes, Emily tried unsuccessfully to stifle a short laugh.“Yes, well.”

Andrea left the hospital after the doctor had come to check Emily out.It was clear that the worst was behind them.With a path clear to the future in front of them, Andrea thought that it was time to look at her own unique circumstance and learn something from it.Chucking the cold coffee in the trash, Andrea headed up and over to the East side where she hoped that her future path would twine together with Miranda’s.It was time to move forward, or perhaps let the two roads diverge in the woods.Remembering the anger and the love she had seen between Serena and Emily, Andrea dared to live on hope.Then she smiled wide, as one of Miranda’s lines recurred in her memory, “Hope, I live on it.”

_**Fin.** _

x


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